US Rep. Tim Ryan discusses drug epidemic

WARREN — U.S. Rep Tim Ryan, of Howland, D-13th, met today with about a dozen police officials from Youngstown and Warren, probation officials and others in law enforcement to hear what they think the problem areas are in the opioid epidemic.

Ryan, who met with them at his office on Courthouse Square, said he wanted to know what the “holes in the system are because I feel like the system is broke. We just can’t get ourselves out of what’s happening here.”

Ryan said one of his efforts is a bill he introduced to drastically reduce the amount of fentanyl in the possession of drug dealers that would trigger mandatory sentences of 10 years or 20 years in federal prison.

Ryan said the United States should stop wasting money on short-term treatment programs for addicts.

“It’s not alcohol, so it’s not a 30-day or 60-day program. This stuff is so highly addictive, the recommendations coming from a lot of people here today is you need six months to a year, because if you only give them 30 days, they come in and come back out, and it’s a perpetual cycle.”

Ryan said he believes law enforcement in Mahoning and Trumbull counties are frustrated “because they are saving people’s lives, the same person over and over and over, and that person is not getting the kind of treatment they need.”